Archives for June 2015

When I entered the social media game back in 2009, visual content was a minor element to the success of social. It’s not that it wasn’t important, but it was a side note, an extra – not a necessity.

Tweets and status updates mainly consisted of copy and/or small photos to highlight an article.

But all that has changed.

Since the advent of Pinterest, social media has been waking up to the fact that visual content is a powerful way to reach users, and marketers are salivating. The past few years we’ve seen GIF’s come to life, photos become a necessity, and videos autoplay, muchhhh to the annoyance of most.

It’s a much more colorful world out there, and personally, I couldn’t be more pleased.

However, there are still MANY businesses, blogs, and social accounts not taking advantage of the visual content mania, and suffering because of it. They wonder why all their efforts fall short or that they have to work twice as hard to get the same results as other similar accounts. They beat their heads on the wall and spend endless amounts of money, yet just don’t get it:

Without visual content, specifically NATIVE visual content – a business will never become a brand. [Read more…]

That’s what I said after addressing the crowd at the #SMSSummit NYC on June 11th. And it was true! It was the first time I’ve ever presented at a social media event, and I can’t tell you how exciting it was to do so.

But leading up to the event was hectic – there were MULTIPLE issues.

I changed the keynote topic 2 weeks before the summit because the original didn’t resonate with the work I’ve done with social media. And I wanted to speak about something I am passionate about.

It was a mad rush to write a 30-minute presentation, and as the PowerPoint was sent off to a designer, I thought everything would be okay. But several days later, she sent me an invoice and no PPT. Then she disappeared.

My #WednesdayWisdom quotes and moments of sharing have appeared on my Facebook page for a long time, but recently I made the switch to videos. They do not directly correlate with my business, but accurately portray my ethics and morals in all decisions. Enjoy!

Find out why getting comfortable with the “mundane” is so important to staying happy!

There are plenty of articles circulating the web about how to get more followers on Twitter, but when it comes to growing an account for a startup, it’s a whole different ballgame.

Why? Because if there’s anything I’ve learned since launching my business three years ago, it’s that startups don’t have many resources, i.e. people or money. That makes growing any social media account more difficult, but because of the nature of Twitter, it’s often considered the hardest.

Twitter isn’t a straightforward social network – there’s a culture that one must adjust to, a language to be learned, and unique etiquette rules to follow.

Let’s face it, Twitter isn’t easy.

But that doesn’t undercut it’s innate ability to become a branding channel, major lead magnet or powerful customer service channel. So when it comes to plotting out a strategy to get more Twitter followers for a startup, I tend to recommend a grass roots approach. This strategy can be used for any business, but if you’ve got the resources or money to spend, other routes may be easier or less time-consuming.

However, as an advocate for many of the old-school strategies, I can guarantee that the quality of these followers will be excellent. All accounts attract spam and deal with some of the more unsavory folks in the Twitter-sphere, but if you follow this guideline, those folks will be cut to the bare minimum, and you’ll be left with the cream of the crop.